A growing segment of the population suffers from obesity, hypertension and diabetes and other related health conditions, commonly referred to as lifestyle ailments or diseases. Such lifestyle ailments can be treated or avoided altogether with adequate exercise and a proper diet. As a result, people are increasingly seeking to maintain or achieve a healthy body weight and get fit through increased exercise. Such exercise may be obtained through participation in team or individual sports, or alternatively, by performing any of a variety of exercise regimens, protocols or programs which may include aerobic and/or anaerobic exercises.
Many exercise programs include strength training routines designed to stimulate muscle growth and increase muscular strength. Such routines have been shown to confer on the exercising individual several health benefits including: (1) increasing cardiovascular efficiency resulting in lower blood pressure and a decrease in heart disease; (2) increasing bone density resulting in a reduced risk of osteoporosis and arthritis; and (3) increasing metabolic activity resulting in sustainable fat loss. Some strength training routines require the exercising individual to perform certain dynamic or isotonic movements using free weights or specialized machines which target a specific muscle or muscle group and work it through a range of motion. During these dynamic movements, the length of the targeted muscle changes as the muscle is being contracted through the range of motion. The popularity of such routines has resulted in a great number of dynamic exercise machines having been developed and manufactured. Such equipment can now be seen in almost every health and fitness club across the country.
However, under certain circumstances, resistance training which involves dynamic movements (and the equipment employed to perform such exercises) can pose an increased risk of physical injury to the individual due to the inertia effect exerted by the equipment. Moreover, this type of resistance training may not be suitable for certain individuals, particularly those who are recovering from an existing injury or illness and are being rehabilitated.
Another type of strength training involves the performance of isometric exercises (also referred to as isometrics). During such exercises the joint angle and the length of the associated muscle do not change during contraction. Studies have shown that training with isometrics can increase peak muscle power up to thirty-two percent (32%) more than with dynamic movements and can increase muscular endurance up to one-hundred-and-twelve percent (112%) over what can be achieved with dynamic movements. Moreover, since isometrics tend to be inertia free, the risk of physical injury to the individual tends to be substantially mitigated thereby making such exercises more suitable for rehabilitative applications.
While the benefits of isometrics have been recognized for over fifty years, this form of training has not had the same popularity as that of dynamic resistance training. This may be due in part to the fact that very little equipment has been developed specifically for the performance of isometrics. Isometrics are usually performed by working the joint and muscle against an immovable force or restraint. Traditionally, this restraint has been provided by a structural item, such as a floor or a wall. However, while these types of restraints tend to be adequate for certain joint angles and muscles, it may be more difficult to properly work other joint angles and muscles isometrically using these restraints. Based on the foregoing, there is a real need for exercise equipment specifically designed for isometrics.
In light of the foregoing, it would be advantageous to have an isometric exercise apparatus which provides an external restraint source for a plurality of joint motions. Preferably, such an apparatus could be configured easily and quickly to create different types of restraint for enhanced versatility thereby offering the exercising individual the option to perform a variety of isometric exercises.